Thursday, July 21, 2011

I have come to realize that although potatoes are one of my favorite foods, I absolutely hate preparing them. Peeling, mashing, chopping, shredding, anything you have to do is just difficult and time consuming! I wish there was an easy button for potatoes!

Anyway, cheesy potato casserole is a staple at almost every family meal I've been to. I've never seen it made in the slow cooker before so this was a first. It was definitely missing a little extra flavor, but overall, I'd definitely make it again! I added a 1/2 teaspoon of pepper to what I made. I think if I made it again I'd add a clove or two of garlic. When scott was heating it up, he added some ranch dressing and said it was good. I may even add some cayenne pepper for that extra kick! I added these suggestions in the recipe in italics! Overall, without the previous additions, I'd say this was a 3.75/5!!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

The title of this recipe is spot on! For the first time, I tried buying meat from Aldi. And their sirloin steak was fantastic! This takes about 30 minutes total between browning the steak and cooking everything else. A great quick meal that you can throw almost anything into. I added garlic salt, onion salt, seasoned salt, pepper, onion, and garlic for a little extra flavor. Overall a 3.5/5. From Gooseberry Patch's Cheap and Easy Recipes.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat; add beef. Cook and stir until browned and juices have evaporated. Add soups, sauce, seasonings, and vegetables; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

I honestly cannot remember the last time I made homemade pancakes! This was a very easy recipe & almost anyone could do it! The pancakes were also awesomely fluffy, which, whenever I've made pancakes in the past, always seem to not be fluffy. I'm not quite sure what it was yet, but I'm thinking maybe the buttermilk.

The recipe also calls for a spice called cardamom. After some research, I learned that this is considered the queen of spices in Inida (with pepper being the king). And that it is extremely expensive. So after a little more digging, I found out most people suggest to not substitute. Well, I've been cooking for awhile now. Granted, nothing extremely exotic, but I've never yet come across cardamom in a recipe. I wasn't about to pay $13 for a small bottle of the stuff. So in the end, I substituted cinnamon, and it definitely did the trick!

Overall, I'd give this a 5/5. I'm definitely going to make these again when I'm craving pancakes. More often than not, I'll have everything on hand. The batter is what makes it, the banana pieces just add to it! Also, try making a double (or more!) batch, as you can cool then freeze the pancakes for a later date!This recipe is from Taste of Home Cooking School's cookbook/magazine.

In the summertime, I love eating salads for dinner! They are so refreshing, and there is little to no cooking involved so you don't have to heat up the kitchen!

This recipe is from Cooking with Kare Volume 1. I have never made a salad solely with cabbage before. This specific vinaigrette flavor with the cabbage was awesome! The red pepper flakes gave a great kick to an otherwise sweet dressing. We put the dressing on in single servings, so we could keep the salad to eat a second day. If you're looking for a new kind of salad with homemade dressing, I highly recommend it! 4/5 stars!

Monday, July 11, 2011

I've recently learned to love pot pies. I know they are super unhealthy (most times), but they are just so yummy! And the ones I find the yummy-est (I don't think that's a word) are the super creamy ones. This has no cream in the recipe. It's basically chicken and vegetables. I don't think I will make it again, but I wouldn't say it was bad. I just have other things I'd prefer to eat instead. The slightly different dinner rolls, however, were awesome! 2/5. Adapted from Pillsbury's Best One Dish Meals.

Chicken and Vegetable Pot PiesTotal Time: 5 Hours 40 MinutesServes 4

1 1/4 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 package (.87 ounces) roasted chicken gravy mix

1 cup ready-to-eat baby carrots, cut in half lengthwise

1 jar (4.5 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup dry white wine or water

2 cups frozen southern-style diced hash brown potatoes, thawed

1 cup frozen sweet peas, thawed

1/8 teaspoon pepper

4 frozen buttermilk biscuits (from 25-ounce bag)

2 teaspoons milk

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

In 3 1/2 to 4 quart slow cooker, place chicken. Sprinkle with gravy mix; mix lightly to coat. Top with carrots and mushrooms. Pour broth and wine over top. Cover; cook on low heat setting 5 to 7 hours.

Meanwhile, heat over to 375 degrees. Place frozen biscuits on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush tops with milk; sprinkle with thyme. Bake as directed on bag. Spoon chicken mixture into bowls. Top each with biscuit.

Scott made this dish, and truthfully, I didn't pay much attention to it. I know he substituted bread crumbs for the Kix, which may have been while I didn't like it so much. I thought it was overly bland. It's a side dish, through and through. I would've given it 2.5/5. Not sure if I would make it again. Adapated from Pillsbury Fast & Healthy Cookbook.

Cheesy Broccoli BakeTotal Time: 30 MinutesServes 6

1 cup Kix Cereal

2 teaspoons olive oil

4 cups frozen broccoli florets

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground mustard

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 cups fat free milk

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place cereal in resealable food-storage plastic bag; seal bag and crush with rolling pin. In small bowl, mix cereal and olive oil; set aside. In 1 1/2 quart casserole, place broccoli; cover and microwave on High 3 minutes. Drain; set aside.

This is probably one of the easiest pot roast recipes I've ever made, plus it has an interesting flavor to it! It is truthfully cheap, especially if you pay attention to when pork roast is on sale. Everything else I bought at Aldi [which, side note, is my new favorite grocery store]. If you're new to the crockpot-this is super easy to make so try it-I promise you can't screw it up! We gave this a 5/5! Adapted from the $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook.

Apple Dijon Pork RoastTotal Time: 8 1/2 hoursServes 4

2 1/2 pound pork shoulder roast

1/2 cup applesauce

1/4 cup apple juice

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

Place the roast in a slow cooker with 1/2 cup of water.

In a small bowl, whisk together the applesauce, apple juice and Dijon mustard. Pour over the roast. Set the slow cooker on low and cook the roast for 8 hours, or until the roast is tender.

We've been on a Greek-flavor kick ever since I made the Greek Chicken and Pasta back in May. I never really thought of myself as a Greek-inspired food lover, but I think I am! This potato salad definitely has some awesome flavors. Many of the comments on the Taste of Home website suggest substituting feta for mozzarella cheese. I personally enjoyed the mozza more, but you could do your preference!

We, once again, do not have a grill, so I steamed all of the vegetables on a large skillet instead. And I cooked the potatoes to almost done, and then I steamed the rest of the vegetables too! The one mistake I would say I did was not cutting the veggies small enough. Make them as close to bite-size as you can to fit the most in your mouth at one time! Yum! Overall rating: 3.5/5--we just need to perfect it!

Sorry for the delay in posting. I've just been lazy, and truthfully, not in the mood. I'm still cooking and am going to post everything I've done the last couple weeks. I almost always forget to look at the recipe the night before I'm going to make it. I did that on this recipe and didn't realize it was a marinade. I did the bare minimum time frame, which turned out fine, but truthfully I think it would be better a little longer marinating.

We aren't allowed to use a charcoal grill at our apartment complex and we don't have a gas grill, so we often times compromise when it comes to grill recipes. I usually use the broiler or a griddle. This time I used the broiler. It would've turned out fine, but we got distracted and we definitely burned the chicken a bit. The not burnt portions were pretty good though!

Overall, we would give this a 3.5/5. It was good, but needs a little bit of work/we need to try it again. This time either on the grill, or making sure it doesn't burn! I did also substitute the chicken wings for drummies, but if I was going to make this for a large group, I would do the drummies.